Sustaining Thailand's Treasures

It's impossible to convey the experience you'll have spending a week with the elephants, mahouts, staff, and volunteers of the Surin Project. Of the 12 volunteers (in our case from the US, UK, and...
Jim Bolton

Program Summary

A rare opportunity to live and breathe the beauty of Thailand beyond the mass media stereotype. Take a volunteer vacation and see and participate in how Thais really live and help to preserve Thailand's native elephant habitat. You will find yourself in one the most unique environments, working to build an ecologically sustainable reforested habitat to give elephants a home. With a volunteer vacation, you cab be a part of the solution and help change the fate of elephants in Thailand by creating ways for the people of Surin Province to promote sustainable elephant eco-tourism, preserve their natural habitat and provide an alternative to the current use of elephants as revenue in circuses and street begging operations.

Work Project:

Save the Asian elephant from extinction and give captive elephants a life worth living! This volunteer vacation program is geared toward the nature loving volunteer explorer and the majority of program projects involve work with locals of the Surin province to preserve the ...

Program Summary

A rare opportunity to live and breathe the beauty of Thailand beyond the mass media stereotype. Take a volunteer vacation and see and participate in how Thais really live and help to preserve Thailand's native elephant habitat. You will find yourself in one the most unique environments, working to build an ecologically sustainable reforested habitat to give elephants a home. With a volunteer vacation, you cab be a part of the solution and help change the fate of elephants in Thailand by creating ways for the people of Surin Province to promote sustainable elephant eco-tourism, preserve their natural habitat and provide an alternative to the current use of elephants as revenue in circuses and street begging operations.

Work Project:

Save the Asian elephant from extinction and give captive elephants a life worth living! This volunteer vacation program is geared toward the nature loving volunteer explorer and the majority of program projects involve work with locals of the Surin province to preserve the native Elephant habitat and includes working on such projects as planting food crops, such as bamboo and native grasses, and also the construction of shade shelters for these elephants. The work schedule varies from week to week depending on what needs to be done. The volunteers have built enclosures and platform, sun shelters for the elephants, make composts from elephant dung and cut elephant food. Volunteers plant elephant food and cut it; this process is a big part of the project. It really insight on what the life of a mahout is like because an elephant eats 500-600 lbs of food every day! In this province, where not much grows naturally, it is a full-time job for the mahouts to find food for the elephants. They have to get up in the middle of the night to feed their elephants. Every night! Volunteers feed the elephants fruit, sugarcane and grass. They cut the sugarcane and grass and feed this to them as well. They bathe them and go for long walks down to the river with them. When elephant food is planted, the elephants are right there with the volunteers. There is also a night when the volunteers camp out, if they chose, by the river with the elephants. Most of the volunteers time is spent directly with the elephants.

The program is most appropriate for those over 18, though 16 to 18 year olds are admitted only with a parent or guardian participating as well. The work can be demanding and the climate is hot, so volunteers should be reasonably confident about their overall fitness level.

There are more than 300 elephants registered in the Surin Province and the majority of these are trapped in the unfortunate trade of street begging and circus shows. These activities reduce an elephants life expectancy by at least 50% as elephants needs hundreds of kilos of fresh vegetables and water daily. Essentially, volunteers will be working at Thailand's only "elephant refugee camp".

Food and Lodging:

Your Globe Aware Country Agent will meet you at the Bangkok airport at a specified pick up time and take you to a traditional Thai style group set of homes. Several volunteers will share a home with Thai style bath facilities (no hot water ' but rarely missed in the tropical climate!), modified western style toilet (water is poured in to make flush), and limited electricity available. Flavorful traditional Thai style meals are cooked fresh, with your help, throughout the day, abundant safe drinking water in each home.

Leisure Activities:

Life moves at a delightful, slower pace here near Wang Noi, where you will have ample time to discover things such as temple ruins, learn Thai cooking, get a Thai massage, go to floating markets, and other simple pleasures such as reading while perched in a hammock in a breeze.

Arranging Your Airfare:

You will need to arrange to be in Bangkok by 12:30pm on the Saturday afternoon your program begins. The program ends at 11am the following Saturday and it takes approximately 2 hours to get you back to Bangkok. The airport is one of the return drops off stops our driver will make. You would not want to arrange a flight that departs any earlier than 4:30pm on the return. Volunteer Vacation.

Program Highlights

The Objectives of the Project Partnership in conjunction with our Host Foundation:

- To conserve and revive the natural environment
- To encourage the consistent realization and sustainability of Thai traditional agriculture & Culture
- To be an accumulation center of Thai traditional agricultural tools
- To be an education center of Thai tradition in terms of "Traditional Thai Gardener Words"
- To maintain a clean environment
- To encourage upright occupations in order to minimize social problems
- To create a sustainable and enriching environment for the Elephants.

It's impossible to convey the experience you'll have spending a week with the elephants, mahouts, staff, and volunteers of the Surin Project. Of the 12 volunteers (in our case from the US, UK, and Germany), 5 had volunteered before and they were staying for multiple weeks. I understand why; it's a wonderfully transformative experience. There are some great videos on YouTube and Vimeo that past volunteers have put together. Just search for Surin Project and you will get a sense of what it's like.

A typical day involves having breakfast, doing some light labor for 1-2 hours, going on a walk with the elephants through the forest, having lunch in a local roadside restaurant, enjoying a little free time (find a wifi spot, go shopping), then observing the elephants in an enclosure area or feeding and bathing them in a river. There's a little time before dinner, and the Thai food is delicious--cooked keeping volunteers' food preferences in mind (allergies, vegetarian/vegan options, etc). There's usually an early evening activity and time to hang out with volunteers before bed.

The people are awesome and being up close with elephants is amazing and surprisingly peaceful. We will probably return in a couple of years. Many of the volunteers we were there with have been back each year. It's like nothing else you'll ever do.

A few potential cautions. If you don't do well in the heat this might not be a trip for you. The accommodations include a bed on the floor of a clean wooden home (2-3 volunteers per home) with a mosquito net and 3 speed fan. The shower is a pail you scoop from a barrel. My teenage daughter was bummed when we arrived; within 12 hours it was no big deal. If these things matter to you, they'll become non-issues once you start hanging out with the elephants.

We go on a volunteer trip abroad every year - Morocco, Thailand, Peru, Costa Rica. All have been special, but the week with The Surin Project through Globe Aware is our favorite. Extremely cost effective as well, even with air fare thrown in.

Locations

Thailand: Ayutthaya, Bangkok

Adventure Types

Cooking

Hiking

Homestay

Causes

Agriculture

Animal Welfare

Building & Construction Projects

Conservation

Education

Nutrition

Tree Planting

Wildlife

Program Duration

1-2 Weeks

Cost in USD per week

Contact Provider for Cost Details

Program Includes:

The minimum contribution fee for your program covers the cost of your meals, accommodation, on-site travel (but not airfare), emergency medical evacuation, medical insurance, donations to the various community projects, your orientation package, volunteer coordination, program development, country manager expenses, community team recruitment, logistical support and project consultants.

Volunteer is responsible for:
The majority of your additional expenses will be whatever transportation costs you incur in getting to the specified meeting point (which will be described to you in your orientation packet). To be clear, Globe Aware does not pay for your airfare. We can, however, help you with suggestions for your booking, should you require assistance. You may also have costs for your passport, visas, airport taxes, any side trips you decide to take, any expanded medical and travel insurance, excess baggage charges (if you bring more than your airline allows), alcoholic beverages, and personal items (such as film, email/phone charges, etc), and any souvenir purchases.